Gordon&Chell, Orange Hearts
by Hyr'Ayl
Summary: They both have orange suits. They both came out of critically failed scientific experimants. They both are survivors. Gordon and Chell are just meant for each other. This is their story! This fiction takes place after episode 2 and is alterantive to ep 3
1. Twilight of the Combine

**Okay everyone, this is probably the first Gordon FreemanxChell romance fiction EVER! I've never seen a fiction about them! And i think they're just GREAT! The only problem seems to be that they never speak.... but sometimes gestures are more meaningful. **

**So, review and let me know what you think. Flames are allowed, but expect retribution.**

**Underlined means Combine communication.   
**

Rubble covered the wide area which had once been one of the most advanced research structures on Earth. A single, insulated living being lied in the middle, surrounded by broken electrical parts and circuits. A strange, destroyed item was resting in her hand, like she couldn't leave it, not even now that she was unconscious.

"What has happened here?" the metallic voice of the Combine Overwatch soldier broke the silence of the place.

"We don't know, sir. It has happened suddenly. No living found yet." a few civil protection soldiers were searching the wreckage.

"Where is the epicentre?"

"A hundred meters under the ground."

"What has it been caused by?"

"No clue yet."  
"Bombard the closest village. The terrorists are there."  
"Roger sir."

________________________________________________________________________________________________

_-Three years later-_

"So... hehm... i should pronounce the speech, Magnusson? Isn't it best if... well, we .... make a written announcement?"  
"Enough whining, Kleiner. People expect you to say what happened. You and not me. Haven't you always been the announcer for the resistance?"

"Yes, but... i can hardly.... speak with the due emotive rationality."

"Listen, we're all sad because Eli's dead. And we must all do what we must. You must do the speech. I will restore communication with Freeman and Alix."

"Maybe some of the...."

"I said enough! Now grab that goddamn microphone and speak!"

"Ok, then. I will.... hehm.... do it. Now. How do i turn on this thing?"

Magnusson pushed the "on" button forcing himself not to make Isaac notice he had told him how to a hundred times.

"Now, my companions, my... hehm, fellow citizens, men and women of the resistance. We... we have, in these last month, archived more than in the last ten years. But, i am, with all the pain i... i... with great pain, i am forced to announce you a terrible occurrence. Today, while we were rejoicing and celebrating the successful launch of the missile and the end of the Combine plan to invade earth, one of our most.... esteemed friends ad leaders has fallen. We all have... lost someone in the war, but this time.... it's not only my greatest friend and colleague, but the man who has been since the Black Mesa disaster, our guide and leader. I am speaking of Doctor Eli Vance."

Kleiner paused, cleaning a tear from under his glasses and searching the second page of the speech.

"We will.... wait.... no... hehm... oh, here. Don't see this day only as one of sadness, though, for he has given his life allowing two other.... souls of the resistance to proceed with their mission: to save our dear fellow Judith Mossman, and secure the lost Aperture Technology on the Borealis. You all have heard fantastic tales about this... legend of our times. Well, now you know it's not a legend, and we are going to claim this technology for the cause of the resistance and to finally eradicate the Combine threat which has been the scourge of our world for so long."

"Damn you, Doc! Is this what you want to say as a mourning?" Alyx punched the radio, nearly hitting the helicopter controls.

Gordon looked at her interrogatively.

"I mean, my father's death wish was that we destroyed anything which was on that ship! And now even in his mourning speech he says we must take it!"

Gordon nodded.

"He's a bastard! Now he can... can only..." she sighed, lowering her head. "No. I don't know. Maybe i'm just too... too... i still can't believe that happened."

Gordon took her hand; the contact with the plastic glove made her feel somehow better, the suit was like the armour of her heroic knight.

Kleiner begun again.

"We will not let ourselves be crushed by this tragic event. As we speak, our comrades in every city of the world are dismantling the now hopeless and leaderless combine survivors, as their portals and communication have been torn asunder by our satellite. So, this occasion is that of the death of a martyr, and must be seen by all of us as an invitation to keep on fighting and never surrender your life nor, above all, your humanity.

Magnusson, how do I turn this off?"

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

The helicopter was crossing the Siberian plains, a empty and barren steppe with a few remote villages. No combine was anywhere to be seen, apart from a few insulated squads, overwhelmed by rebel groups. It seemed the Lambdas painted all over Alyx' and Gordon's chopper were enough to identify them as rebels, nobody even tried to attack them.

In the decade of Combine rule, no human was allowed to fly. Even transcontinental transportations were arranged by boats. The sight of a rebel helicopter was, for anyone who saw it, the symbol of the falling règime, a flying Valkyrie announcing the day of Ragnarok. Before the chopper had reached the Arctic polar circle, through all human communications it was known as "The Twilight of the Combine".

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Five combines were strained around their armoured car, surrounded by rebel fighters.

"Sir, we're running out of ammunitions."  
"Resist. I've spotted another car coming by. We'll receive reinforcements."

A group of rebels tried to broke through the combine lines. The cyborg soldiers blasted them, forcing the others to retreat. The combine vehicle was drawing nearer, according to engagement rules they were supposed to come out and begin to fight.

It didn't stop.

When the combine realized it was heading for them, it already was too late. Their car was capsized and started rolling , crushing the soldiers around it.

The rebels gathered around the now stopped attacker's vehicle. It definitely used to be a combine car, although it had been visibly repaired a lot of times, which the combine never did.

"Hey, you! Come out, we want to thank you!"  
No answer came.

"Is there anyone inside there?"  
The door opened, slowly. In the frame was standing a woman in Combine armour, her face expressionless. She handed the rebel leader a parer; on it was written, in rough calligraphy: _I have to travel on. I need food. Please._

"Okay, if you want, we can give you something, now that the rationing is over.... but where are you going?"

Still without any expression, she pointed north, where the steppe started already to turn into tundra.

"But... you won't survive there with just this. Combine armour is not freezing-proof.... we'll get you some clothes. But are you sue you don't want to tell us why are you...?"

She nodded yes. Then she took a strange, weapon-like item inside the car, and shown it to the rebel captain.

"What is this? A gun why are you showing me this?"

She shook her head and took the item back. Then shown again the food message.

"Sure, come with us. We'll take you to the village and give you something. About that car... there's no chance you'll let us borrow it?"

She shook the head again.

"Okay. By the way, my name is Rufus Fouerach, and you are..."

She pointed at the combine crest on her armour, which had been erased and covered with five red letters, "CHELL".

______________________________________________________________________________

"Here is Alyx Vance, calling Borealis, do you read?"

Statics where the only answer.

"Borealis, do you read? We're coming from City 17! We've received the message, we're coming to help you."

Alyx had went on trying to contact the ship while driving. They had travelled for twelve hours now, her voice was getting sleepier and sleepier, as she tried to keep the trajectory.

Gordon gestured her to let him the controls.

"Thank you, but... can you drive am helicopter?"

Gordon shrugged his shoulders.

"Ok, I guess if you've managed to save the world twice, it won't be much of a challenge."

They switched seats, Gordon took the cloche. He had driven any kind of experimental vehicle back at Black mesa, so it wasn't too difficult. While he was adjusting the height, he noticed another strange thing: he felt no need of sleep at all. Sure, he had never slept during the Black Mesa incident, apart from when he got caught, nor did he sleep in city seventeen... but he always thought it was due to survival instinct, adrenaline, fuelling him to keep him alive. But he did remember the sleep as a terrible enemy at Black Mesa, his sight shrouding in the rare occasions when he was not fighting, the unbearable temptation of letting himself down.... now he didn't feel anything at all. He was focused, rational,. Despite the exaggerated amount of waking hours he was enduring. Was it related to the time shifts? To being in suspended animation all the time between the Nilhilant defeat and the arrival in City 17? He had no answer.

Alyx closed her eyes and leaned on his shoulder, somehow finding the HEV comfortable. She seemed so peaceful, so... happy.

_Am I really unable to sleep, now? _Thought Gordon._ What am I turning in? I feel more a machine than a man, now. Our advantage over combine is supposed to be humanity...am I losing it?_

Flying over one of the small villages they saw a few men piling up Combine carcasses, readying to pyre them.

And he was there.

He was talking with a rebel, impossible to tell about what, but it was him.

The suit.

The briefcase.

The Vortigaunts had let him go. He rose his gaze to the chopper, almost challenging. And Gordon realized there was at least one human emotion he fully conserved.

Fear.

**Hum. Hum. Hum. I don't know if i'm going to write all this fiction keeping Gordon and Chell mute. It's hard writing what they want to say without repetitions.... but we will see.**

**To any drawer-painter-illustator et cetera, there's nearly NO FAN-ART about GordonxChell on Deviantart. We must change this! Spread the word! Let the world know GORDONxCHELL RULES!  
**


	2. The essence of our enemy

**Reading the reviews, it seems the audience has voted to let Gordon and Chell speak, and I cant's say how relieved I am. It was a real pain writing without dialogues. **

**One more thing: Half-Life and Portal are completely based on full immersion in the character, and you see everything through the protagonist eyes. So I have a new experiment to do: is it better first or third person? What do you think? This time I try the first, Chell's POV. **

As I woke up, all the world was a blur, I could barely define my surroundings. The first thing I remember feeling was sunlight over me. I felt like I had not tasted anything lie that for centuries.... and maybe it was true. The light made me blind, and my whole body was aching. I suddenly averted a crippling pain in my right hand, like a jolt. What was I supposed to have in there..... the gun. The portal gun. My memories started to emerge from the shroud, I remembered the tests, the escape, the fight..... and then the rise to the sun. After that, nothing but broken visions and a strange, odd litany. My eyes were slowly getting used to the brightness, and I started to recognize the remains of the AI all around me. On most of the rubble was printed the same name I had seen in her room, GLaDOS. The name of the.... entity. The computer. I felt... pity for her. It was almost pathetic how she was left alone in there.... alone with me.

The psychedelic pursue through that laboratory was disturbing even to think about. It had definitely been deserted for years, at least since all the employees had been poisoned by the AI. I remembered the broken red phone in her room, the proof of how she had cut all the communications for her former masters. But there was not even any sign of their passage....

Which led me to the real question, how much time had passed since I first had entered that facility?

But even if I could know that, what could I understand? I couldn't remember a thing of how did I get there in the first place, nor of my life before it.... all that remained in my memory was the paranoiac adventure inside that cursed structure.... anything else was not just blurred, it was completely washed away.

I had more or less regained my consciousness. I looked down at my arm, seeing the Hand-held Portal Device, the basic of all of my efforts as well as the tool f my enemies. I tried to fire it, well knowing it wasn't going to work. The head of the gun slided back, while a few orange sparks fell out of it.

It was broken.

I tried, carefully, to open my fingers, but the hand didn't answer to my commands. I opened with my left hand the right fingers, one by one, until the device fell down. It was so light that I barely felt the loss of burden.... but as I finally got rid of it, I felt like being freed.

Now I had to understand where, when and who was I. And I had a single clue, the name of my captors, the cursed Aperture science.

I tried to move some steps. My leg's augmentations were still there, helping me not to fall.... I wondered if it was best to remove them. No, better to leave them into place... and better to find some shoes, the hot asphalt under my feet was not a good sensation. The building which probably used to be the Aperture office complex was a wreckage, the explosions down below had sunk in into the ground and shattered everything. Apparently, no one was there anyway.

Now that I thought of it, there was nobody at all. I expected to see firemen, police, ambulances, but all there was around me were hills, with steppe on a side and trees on the other. Just before the laboratory entrance there was a road. I could hitch a way to the closest city, assuming someone was going to lean a passage to a woman with leg prosthesis and an experiment suit.

I walked out of the fallen gates, seeing the borders of the road, far away. There was nothing and nobody. In the distance, I saw a village, or what it could look like a village. A few smoke columns were rising from it. I hoped it was the from chimneys or fireplaces, it made the city seem alive though in me was growing the sensation of being the only living creature left on the world.

I set on march, with the portal gun on my shoulder, walking beside the road, on the grassy ground. Under my feet, every irregularity of the surface and every little stone itching my soles reminded I was walking on the earth, on mother nature herself, not on the cold floors created by mother GLaDOS.

I decided to leave thoughts and imagination for afterwards, I just walked on slowly, enjoying the beauty of that landscape. After a few minutes, though, I considered it was more of a still life than a landscape. There were no animals, no people, no sign of life. Vegetation on the other hand had overridden the road and invaded any free space, no one seemed to have tried to stop it. But it seemed the road would've been useless anyway, since there were no cars at all.

Was there, in that world, someone who remembered me? Someone who could help me? Maybe in the Aperture Science? Maybe Black Mesa?

Wait-why should I think of that? I remembered it as a subconscious notion.... like someone had told that to me while I was asleep. What would Black Mesa mean, anyway? It seemed the name of a place, maybe my home city. Anyway I couldn't see anything which could even look like a mesa around me, not even in the distance.

I reached the village after a hour of walk, I didn't feel tired at all. Probably some Aperture technique to keep me always ready.

The village seemed more alive than the world around it, but not in a good sense. The stench of death and decay was in the air, an abrupt change from the aseptic environments I was used to. The sounds were unnatural, beastly howls and screams of pain. The instinct of survival which had sustained me in my lab-rat course overtook me again, but I knew if would've been hard now to think _without _portals. I tried the portal gun again, fruitlessly. Anyway leaving it behind was out of the question, it was a too important clue.

The streets were littered with broken car parts and destroyed furniture; as well as on the street, vegetation had the best on buildings.

I finally found a human being. Or at least something which used to be one. Hi body was maimed beyond recognition, he had been torn apart by something with claws. In his hand he held a handgun. I grabbed it and pulled out the magazine; surprisingly, it was full. He had not even tried to defend himself, apparently

In the corner of my eye, something moved. A human figure, apparently. Maybe a survivor.

I turned around suddenly, aiming the gun at it. It was clear that thing had not survived at all. Its body was covered in blood, he was hunched and lame, and above his head a group of enormous spiders was hissing and climbing up and down.

In had faced fear in many situations. The terror of being trapped in a closed room, the fear of fighting dangerous enemies, the constant paranoia of cameras watching my every step, but it was the first time I met something so _physically _horrible.

One of the spider-like creatures leaned towards me, preparing to jump. My reflexes were quicker than my mind, when it jumped I bashed it with the portal gun. Its disgusting blood stained me while the disarticulated corpse rolled down on the ground. The smell was unbearable, I would've thrown up if only I had ever eaten something.

The creature leaned back, while the spiders climbed one on the other to jump up.

I aimed the gun at it. "Stop, whatever you are!"

I had screamed. I had... spoken. I did it instinctively, without thinking.... it was the first time I had spoken in what I remembered of my life.... during the test, had not said a single word.... not even before GLaDOS, not even when the platform was sliding into the fire....

The monster did not seem so impressed, anyway. It moaned as another spider jumped.

I shot it, and unloaded the whole magazine on the others. Unsurprisingly, I seemed to be well trained to fight, my subconscious guided my movements.

I ran out of bullets while the last spider was still there. It was more than _on _the human, it was.... attached to it. Part of it, almost. A parasite. So that's what they were. Parasites. Maybe this was why everything was so empty.... so dead.

I ran away from that hunchback abomination. It was too slow to follow me anyway.

"You, human one! Come here!" a strange, unnatural voice called me. I turned to see a strange, humanoid creature. It had three arms, a brown, hairless skin. On its head, an enormous red eye.

He invited me into a house and locked the door behind. I didn't know if I could trust him, but he seemed less alien than the creature before.

"You don't belong here. Your essence is different, indeed." stated the creature.

"I don't know.... I can only tell I come from Aperture Science."

"I regret telling you that this name has no meaning to me."

"It doesn't mean a lot for me either. But my memory was washed away."

"I am afraid in this matter there's no help i can offer. To unveil the mists of your mind is more than I alone can archive."

"And does this symbol mean anything to you?"

I shown him the Aperture mark on the portal gun, and it retreated as if he had seen something horrible.

"That circle.... the broken round.... the mark of the enemies! You might not be unrelated to them!"

"Listen... this thing is part of an experiment I was used as a lab rat for. I don't know much about it, but this society was guided by a crazed computer."

"_Shaenat.. _a computer, you affirmed. This might mean more than we imagine." he touched the portal gun with the central hand "_Hamnai.... Thamm...."_ green rays were flowimg in and out of his fingers.

"Yes. The essence is not different. The same technology which is used by our oppressors. Though their broken vision makes the symbol look different, they print it on their automatic weapons."

"You mean these.... oppressors are the same who used me?"

"Sadly, my lore is insufficient to answer your question. We will have to join my kin out of the city."

"Your kin? But... who are you?"

"I call myself Gathule. I belong to the freed ones who take the name of Vortigaunts."

"And... are you from this planet?"

"Your memory, is indeed, not unbroken. Many years ago, the dimensional breach which was the herald of the Combine's forthcoming joined our worlds, so that the Freeman could slay the dreaded Nilhilant and free my kin."

"Wait- you mean you come from another dimension, and someone from this one freed you?"

"Excellent understanding."

"But now there's this "combine" which dominates you again, right?"

"Precisely. They dominate my and your kin alike."

"And they use Aperture technology.... by ant chance, are these "automated weapons" you mentioned like... white, egg shaped tripod machine guns?"

"Their colour cannot be described as white, and the word 'egg' is new to my ear. But indeed, it's not false that they have three feet nor that they are the kind of machine you could call a gun."

"Damn. Do they have things like metallic cubes and spheres of energy?"

"Spheres of power are not alien to their devices."  
"So this is it... whatever they are, they took much from Aperture... from my own captors...."  
"This is hardly an improbable guess. But now hurry, we have to meet my kindred to discuss the matters of urgency."

**The picture begins to clear up a bit..... maybe... but anyway, the next time you see a combine turret, try to look at the symbol and compare it with the Aperture science mark.... you'll see.**


	3. First Meeting

**I feel more comfortable with first person. Definitely. So we will see this chapter through Gordon's eyes. Where did I leave him? Oh, right, the helicopter. **

I knew my luck. I knew that any mean of transport or scientific apparatus simply blew in my presence. So when Alyx said we had to land, I was already expecting a long, painful fall while losing all of my weapons.

Instead, we were simply running out of fuel. She had already tracked a combine station, where we hopefully could find some more energy cells, or at least a vehicle to continue to the Borealis.

We weren't far. Snow already covered most of the ground below us and the station we were heading to was the last Combine presence before the cold north.

"We're almost there, Gordon. Just a couple of minutes."

"Are you sure we'll find something down there?"

"I dunno. But probably they have something. They're quite insulated up here."  
"Another thing.... how do you plan to get out of the helicopter?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"You don't have any warm clothes. You're going to freeze if you come out of the cockpit."  
"What...oh.... oh.... damn! How could I forget this?! I... I just... didn't think of.... fuck!"  
"Calm down. You were so.. pained... you couldn't.... think of all. It's my fault."  
"No, it's mine. How could I not think of this? If only this stupid helicopter wasn't air conditioned, i'd have felt it before.... damn!"

"Don't worry, i'll go in and find something. A combine armour will do, I think."  
"Really?" she asked, as we got above the outpost. "Would you do that for me??"

"Sure."

"Oh, thank you!" she hugged me. Now, if you've ever been hugged by someone who's _fucking driving an helicopter _you'll know that the vehicle doesn't take kind on being abandoned. I managed to retrieve the flight asset one second before we crushed on the ground.

"Oh.., sorry, I...... can't do a thing right, today."  
"Don't worry. Just stay here and shoot to any combine."

"Right.... oh, I think we can communicate through your suit's radio. So we'll keep in touch."  
"Good. Now, time to go."  
I grabbed the Gravity Gun, the crowbar and the pulse rifle, no need to carry around all the heavy gear and jumped out, closing the door behind be.

The outpost was a short, small building with a wide and empty parking area before it. The only vehicle that was in there was a battered and half destroyed armoured car. I walked to the door.

And I started to figure out what was going to happen. I'd have entered, found either Combine or zombines, fought them, found some clothes for Alyx after a long search and some gravity-based puzzles and returned only to find that she had been kidnapped.

Mathematical.

No combine behind the door. No turrets. No zombies.

That place was too calm to be real. There was a lit stove, medical supplies and a recharger. Too simple this way.

I moved some careful steps to the next door.

I opened it suddenly, jumping in with the rifle risen.

No one.

And then it was there. That old, familiar feeling of someone sneaking behind me. My reflexes had been slower than usual, I couldn't turn around in time. I felt the cold plastic of a combine glove on my cheek, while a gun barrel touched my temple.

"Who are you?" asked a woman's voice in my ear.

A bullet in the head at that distance was more than enough to kill me, suit or not suit. If only I had an helmet.....

"Answer me!" the woman yelled.

Then she shivered, a gloved hand entered my visual field touching the Lambda symbol on my chest.

"Black Mesa...." she murmured.

She le me go. I turned around to see her. She was tall, black haired, with big grey eyes. She was wearing a combine armour covered with ragged clothes, the contrast between the mechanical look and the patchwork was almost grotesque.

"You come from Black Mesa?" she asked.

"Who are you?"

"I have asked you first!"

"Well, in case my fame has not reached you, yes, i'm Gordon Freeman and I come from Black Mesa. I assume you're not with the rebels if you don't...."

"They all spoke of the Freeman as a messiah. A true one wouldn't let himself be caught so easily."

"Well, you got me off guard, and i'm grateful that you didn't shoot me immediately. But who are you?"

As an answer she shown the combine badge on which were written five letters.

"Chell? What does that mean?"

"Nothing. It has no meaning. No purpose."

"And then...."

"And then you do have a purpose. You're seeking the ship."  
"How could you know of...."

"The helicopter flying north bearing the Combine's demise. The speeches of that stupid scientist. It doesn't take much brain to understand what are you up to."

"And if we did?"

"Then I must come with you. There's something of the utmost importance for me in there."

"There's something important for everyone."

"Nevertheless, I have to go there."

"But why?"

"Because I have to." for an instant a shade of sadness crossed her serious expression.

"Okay, if you have to...."

"Good. I assume you need some energy cells, and I have an almost filled one. And you should go tell your companion that you're alright before they start to worry about it."

"Oh... yes, this is true. But I also need to take her some clothes fit for cold... she doesn't have any."

"So you come here, looking for an icebreaker, in the arctic, and you don't even have decent clothes?"

"Listen I know it sounds stupid, but...."

"There are clothes in this building. Go in that room. And be quick about it, we can't lose too much time."  
I went where she had said me, not even thinking about it. She seemed rather bothered, but like she was expecting all f this to happen.

But thinking about it,


	4. Setting the Pieces

**Lots of Vortigaunts ahead.. i hope i wote their lines decently.... And Chell is getting annoying.... am i sure of what am i doing? I hope...  
**

"Behold! Our kindred has returned!"

"It is so!"

"Indeed!"

"And look- a human is with him."

"Yes...."

The five Vortigaunts were sitting in a circle not far away from the village, near a old pine. As Gathule approached together with the strange, orange dressed human, they rose up curiously staring at the two.

"Ah, now we are joined once again." said Gathule. "And it is indeed a good time, for now our joined power is required."

"My brother, your purpose is clearly bound to the human being, but what is that you can't accomplish and we should?"

"This creature's memories are scattered and broken. And not without use to our cause."

Chell looked at the creatures, trying not to show her feelings. The aliens seemed friendly, though she knew how dangerous they were: during the escape from the city, Gathule had destroyed a monster with a energy beam, apparently coming directly from his body. The only certainty was that if they wanted to kill her she'd be dead already.

They started to speak in their own language, gesticulating a lot and often repeating the same sentences twice or thrice. In the end they seemed to have decided something.

"We are to help you." said one of them "for it seems inside you lies an important clue about our dreaded foes."

"Stand still" said another "And don't react with fear to our doings."

They circled around her, rising their arms. Sparkles of green light started to erupt from their fingers forming a cage. Electricity filled the air, as the light beams connected, growing in number, until they embedded Chell in a blindingly bright egg. She started to feel numb, while something in her mind struggled to emerge.

And then there was pain.

She had no illusions about the procedure being easy, but this was not what she had expected. A sharp pain in her shoulder, followed by the warmth of her blood. It seemed more like a gunshot.

She opened her eyes, and realized the green cage had faded and what hit her shoulder was precisely a bullet. Turning around, she saw the aliens, the vortigaunt, fighting off armoured soldiers coming out of an helicopter. The troopers wore black armours and masks on their faces. As they spoke, their voice had nothing human.

"Back up, we're suffering losses."

"Keep pushing. We must exterminate them."

The leader of the soldier shown off.

"Oh no... oh god, no.... it can't be...." Chell stared at the enemy, paralysed.

Unlike the others', his armour was white, and instead of eyes, he had a wide, red lens in the centre of his head.

"No, please.... no..."

A walking turret. Aperture technology turned into a man.

He aimed a strange rifle at one of the aliens, shooting a glowing ball. The target vanished, like he had suddenly been turned into sparkles.

The spheres of energy. Aperture science. It was them.

"Take the human." he said.

Chell ran away. Not much of a plan, but all she could think of was putting more distance possible between her and the enemies. She escaped without thinking, barely minding the war cries and the shouted orders behind her. When she was far enough to be unable to hear, she fell to her knees and caught breath.

Aperture Science had taken over the world. Humanity was dominated by living turrets.

Of all the absurd sceneries she had pictured, this was absolutely the worse.

"Are you alright? Hey? Wake up!"

Chell opened her eyes suddenly, her hand run instinctively to the pistol. The she reminded where she was.

Freeman was looking down at her, while Alyx, was asleep with the head on Chell's shoulder.

"... i'm fine..."she answered

"Well, there's a problem... you see, we're... lost."

"...lost?"

"You didn't give me any direction..."

"YOU COULD HAVE ASKED! How can I work with people who just refuses to be useful! Damn it! Where are we?! Okay, don't answer, I know, we're lost. How long have we travelled?"

"One hour, but-"

"ONE HOUR!? You just went around blindly for an hour? Let's see... we are probably at a distance of at least five hours and an half from the Borealis, unless you've driven in a completely correct or completely wrong direction... hm... assuming the wind speed and direction... I think we've been pretty lucky. Now, let's see where can we go." She stood up quickly and Alyx's head slide down from her shoulder, hitting the floor. Cell didn't seem to mind it.

"What.. what is happening?" asked Alyx, rubbing her head.

"Nothing." answered Gordon " We just... had to stop to-"

"Would you please leave her alone and come here to drive this thing?"

"I'm coming.... do you need anything, Alyx?"

"No...but was... was it you before?"

"What do you mean?"

"Someone whispered something in my ear and-"

"And whatever was it it can WAIT! Come. Here. And. Fly. This. Thing."

"Jeez, i'm coming. What's with all this hurry anyway...."

"Just come here. I will help her." Chell seemed to have turned sweet and caring again.

"No, now you stay here and tell me where to go, we're not going to be lost _again._

The _entity, _in it's visible form, resembled an enormous, liquid, blue sphere, surrounded by a series of shiny tentacles.

_It seems you have underestimated the problem, _it affirmed. It didn't _speak _things- it simply assumed people would already know them, making them know as a direct consequence.

"I have simply... be-believed wise to d-delay the plan." the main in the suit tightened his tie, impassive.

_You are putting much at stake._

"F-for a good price."

The entity dived one of it's tentacles into the core of it's round body._ You are proving untrustworthy recently. You have been trapped once; what if this happens when the goal is about to be... reached?_

"T-this isn't going to happen. Th-the right moment will be precisely when any opposer i-is... quelled."

_Yes.... precisely. This is why we will dispose of our opposing force... with specific means._

"D-do you think he could be... u-useful?"  
_Yes... he will complete his task... it's time for him to be useful... at last._

The tentacle came out from the sphere and formed a circle. Inside it, a sharp black light shone, as the time-space was bent and deformed. A humanly figure appeared.

_Yes..... now it is time.... for it to happen._

"What do you mean, 'you lost signal'? How can we lose their signal? It should work at any distance!"

"I know, Magnusson, but there is an interference.... like another net obfuscating our own. The radiating process..."

"Kleiner, there can't be another net! We just destroyed the Combine's systems, in case you forgot!"

"Well, assuming a possibility for a cascade return of radiations, the chance of a conditioned random feedback...."

"Shut the hell up!

"I'm just trying to..."

"Try to re-establish the connection, damn it! That's all you have to do! I have to check on the.... project A."

Magnusson walked out the communication room, muttering some curses. There were enough troubles without need for improvise communication drops.

"The Magnusson has finally returned!" Uriah greeted him "We have important news!"

"Well, better be good news!"

"Indeed. We have succeeded in inducing catatonia."

"So now it's.... inoffensive?"

"Apparently so."

"Very good. Let me see."

The hangar was a jungle of wires and tubes running from on floor and the walls, connecting the various machines and tanks to the creature in the middle.

Even dormant, the Advisor was still active, and the hallucinations it caused had lead to the choice of having only Vortigaunts handle it.

The creature's arms had been removed, and it's artificial skin folded to be able to see the interior organs. Not that there was much to see: essentially, a small digestive apparatus and huge brain. The tentacle in the mouth was apparently a long, muscle less wire of nerves, moved only by telekinesis.

It was hard to decide which parts were biological and which ones artificial; the Advisor was a mixture of both, definitely more harmonized than the combine soldiers. Advisors were born like that.

"So... what have we discovered so far?" asked Magnusson, stretching his eyes.

"The _Shaulato_ is indeed an interesting creature. It's power is akin to that of the dreaded Nilhilant."

"And? Can it create portals too?"

"To our great merriment, no. But it has more control over it's capacities than our former master had over it's own."

"I see. An can't you do anything for these... hallucinations?"

"Not unless we kill the creature. And we need to preserve it's existence to study it."

"You mean that... just in case....if we wanted to kill him?"

"We would need to sever it's essence as we tear asunder it's body. Only thus we would be able to annihilate it."

"You mean that even if we destroyed it completely...."

"It's conscience would return into the matrix of it's masters and soon be reintegrated into flesh. Our chance of doing a substantial damage to our enemy, is to kill it's essence piece by piece, Advisor after Advisor."

"Very... very good. Keep studying. One last thing...."

"We are listening."

"No one in this base must know about what are we doing here. Only you workers, Kleiner and me. Understood?"

"Most assuredly."

"Goodbye then."

"_As nathog ker'ker nomai."_

"Yes, yes, whatever."

Uriah grinned, as much as it's anatomy allowed it. If the Magnusson had the vaguest idea of what it had just said, he'd' have answered much differently.

**I'm still not sure wether to use "it" when referring to Vortigaunts. They are asexual, aren't they?**

**If anyone of hasn't guessed who is that the _entity _has summoned, they will be pancaked to death.**


	5. When Johnny Comes Marching Home

"So here we are."

"Here where?"

"Above the Borealis."

"I see only ice here."

"Look better."

"The only thing is that canyon...."

"Precisely. The ship is there."

"How do you know?"  
"The position of the anomalies I tracked based on combine observation remarked a...."

"Okay, forget I asked, let's just land. Though we'll never fit the chopper in there."

"We'll find a way to descend."  
The helicopter softly touched the icy ground, its paddles sliding on ice.

"So here we are... where everything begun." said Alyx.

"You mean where everything ends." answered Gordon.

"What do you mean?"

"You said.. where it begun.. but this is not where..."

"I didn't say a thing..."

"You... you... well, let's get moving."  
They packed everything they could carry, food, weapons, clothes, energy cells and healing kits hoping to have enough to survive even if they would not find Mossman.

Meanwhile, In White Forest Base the secondary silo alarm rang.

"Not AGAIN! Someone kill those goddamn crows!"

"Magnusson... are you sue it's really crows this time?"

"Since we've been working here false alarms have been more or less a billion and the true one has been ONE, so yes, I think it's crows. Plus, the gates are closed and nothing bigger than a damn pest could go in."  
"Anyway, we could send someone... well, armed."

"Fine." Magnusson turned on the loudspeakers. "Thank to the persuasion of our beloved doctor Kleiner, an armed squad must go in the secondary silo and take out those crows. Be careful, they might peck you to death! AND NOW MOVE!"

Two rebels grabbed their weapons and descended in the corridors below the silo, crossing the blasted blast doors.

"I have a bad feeling."

"Don't worry, it can't be Combine again... it's simply impossible..."

"Yeah... but I still think...."

"Listen, we'll just have to chase away some crows. We did it a hundred times."

"Do you hear this too?"  
"This what?"

"Like... like someone whistling..."

"I can't hear a thing."

"Listen... it's getting closer...."

"Oh, fuck.. I hear it too..."

"I know this music...it's... it's..."

"It's that march...."

"It's... it's called... it's called... 'when Johnny comes marching home'. It was.. it was an American march... before the war...."

They saw a man at the end of the corridor, or at least it was a humanoid. It walked almost hunchback, and wore a full body armour. On his head, a gas mask and green goggles.

"Any idea why is... that thing... whistling it?"

"No.. but... that is a combine, isn't it?"  
"It looks like one...."  
"It is not."

The two rebels started when they heard a Vortigaunt behind them.

"That being is strong in the Essence." continued the alien "it's not one of our enem..."  
It couldn't finish the phrase. His head rolled aside and a fountain of yellow blood sprouted for the neck.

"What... what the...."

The combine-like man was standing between the two rebels, with a knife in his hand. It had not stopped whistling.

"How... you were there...."

"Don't speak, just shoot!"

The two opened fire, but the creature had disappeared again. Before they could understand where it was, another severed head reached the Vortigaunt's on the floor.

"Why!? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM..."

Another cut. Another choke.

The second alarm rang.

"Oh my... oh God no...."

"Magnusson? What has happened? It's not...."

"Full Alert! All the fighters in the base ready their weapons! Seal the silo doors! Everyone, MOVE!"

The rebels in the base acted as one man, trained by the precedent emergency and determined by the death of Eli. The doors were sealed, a defence was readied, and before the whistling creature had reached the silo's exit a battalion of rebel warriors was ready to receive him.

"Where are we going Magnusson?"

"Don't you guess, Isaac? To the damn Hangar A, where we are not at risk. Even in case of invasion, that hangar is the safest place."

Magnusson was pulling his colleague by the sleeve through the courtyard, heading to the building where the Advisor was. The responsible Vortigaunt was standing on the doorway.

"Uriah! How do you explain this?! The Advisor has called reinforcements!"

"No." The Vortigaunt's tone was utterly calm and unemotional.

"What do you mean? Do you think those invaders have just decided White Forest was a good place for a trip?"

"No."

"Then what the Hell is happening?"

"It has come here. The _Verigai."_

"The what?! Stop speaking in riddles!"

"The _Verigai._ It is unknown to me how could humans name it. The guide maybe or, he-who-conducts."  
"Then... what is it doing here? And why is this thing attacking us!?"  
"It aims to the _Shaulato._ It's purpose is that of annihilating the advisor."

"All of this is very interesting, but I really couldn't care less! I want five Vorts guarding Hangar A from outside until this emergency is over!"

"So we will do. But there's no reason nor chance to obstacle the _Verigai'_s path."

"We'll see" growled the scientist "we'll see."

"So what do we do now?"

Alyx, Gordon and Chell were entering the icy canyon through a side passage, steep and narrow but still walkable. Gordon lead the group, hacking on the ice with the crowbar and keeping balance despite the slippery ground.

The wind, blowing through the fissures and the tunnels, screamed like a Banshee carrying shards of ice and striking like a frozen whip on the three. The didn't speak, while they kept descending to the core of that cavern.

Every step was harder than the one before, every second the chance of falling and rolling down all the way was greater. The HEV suit could keep Gordon warm enough to survive, but it wasn't enough to be comfortable. Cold froze their junctions and entangled their motion.

After more or less thirty minutes, which to them seemed to last days, they saw the tunnel widening and a blinding light coming from outside. The winds carried small drops of salty water, and they saw it.

Inside the main canyon, a long, deep crack into the peck , a torrent of sea water ran around a ship, still anchored to it's deck.

The Borealis.

"So this is it." Alyx stared at the white letters on the side of the mastodontic ship. Ice covered the whole surface of it, stalactites leaning from docks and balconies. In the corner of his eye, Gordon saw someone entering a door in the cabin of the Borealis; he didn't have to see his suit or his briefcase to understand who it was.

"We must find your allies here." said Chell. She had been quite silent since they had landed, and had insisted on carrying a strange black and white item with the Aperture mark on it.

"How do you know there are our friends here?" asked Alyx, hostly.

"You wouldn't have been in such a hurry otherwise, nor you could have any information since the area is completely isolated and...."

"Okay, okay. But remember you're not the one in charge here."

"So what do we do?"

"We.... we...."

"She's right, we must find Mossman." Gordon looked at what they could see of the ship through his crossbow's scope, but he didn't see anything.

"Where could they be?"

"Inside, this is most certain. And this is where we need to go, it's almost evening."

"Well, in the Arctic, speaking of "evening"....."

"It's evening enough. It's getting colder, if you didn't notice. And the wind is increasing. We need to get inside quickly."

"If you say so...."

They carefully walked on the dock, climbing on the snow which had piled on it in years. The ship was a giant, a monstrous gargoyle they hesitated to defile by walking on it. It was more than hallowed: they were treading on a legend.

The closest door to the catwalk had been evidently blown open recently, and the modern lock which was keeping it closed had still to be completely brittled by ice.

"If we break this, we won't have anything to close it again." said Alyx.

"Crush it open. We won't be able to enter any other way." Chell was again on her commanding mood.

"And how do you know it?"

"Do you promise not to interrupt me this time?"

"Oh, please spare me, don't bore me to death!"

"Yes, I guess the most articulated thought you might have in you pretty little head is 'I hungry, I eat', and my concepts could be...."

"You dork freak, you think you can outsmart me just because....."

"I can outsmart you because it's as hard as outsmarting a coconut!"

"Do you girls want to keep arguing inside, so we can warm up a bit at least?"

"Gordon? How did you open the door?"

"The key was inside the lock, geniuses."


	6. Twisted reality

"Hello, and again welcome to the Aperture Science Computer Aided Enrichment Center. We hope your brief detention in the relaxation vault has been a pleasant one. Your specimen has been processed and we are now ready to begin the test proper."

Gordon shook, trying to open his eyes. He felt numb, and the familiar sensation of the suit on him had disappeared. When he managed to see clearly, he realized he was in small, glass walled cell, inside a larger room. A radio was playing some military march he didn't remember.

"Keep in mind that although fun and learning are the primary goals of any enrichment activity, serious injuries might occur. For your own safety, and the safety of others, please refrain from using any device in unrequested manners.

Stand back. The portal will open in three, two, one."

Something which looked like a door opened on the wall, apparently heading to a similar room... if not the same. Crossing it with his hand, Gordon felt the same as while teleporting, that slight itching sensation while his molecules were dismantled and reassembled.

"Go right through, there's no risk" said a male voice from the loudspeakers "This technology is perfectly safe and there's no risk at all."

Seeing Gordon was still hesitating, the man spoke again.

"Don't worry. It's just a routine test. I know you're new to this, and that's why I am handling the test instead on the computer. Anyway, portals are the safest way of traveling you might encounter. Just walk though it."

Gordon grumbled and went though. It didn't feel as itchy as teleporting, it was almost imperceptible.

"Now, according to my files here, your name is Gordon, isn't it?" asked the man.

Gordon nodded.

"Good. You can call me Mark. I'll be your tutor through the whole test. First of all, do you feel comfortable with your leg augmentations?"

Gordon looked down at his legs, not surprised to see he had devices like those worn by...

...by who?

He remembered seeing someone wearing them, but his memory was blurred. He couldn't even remember the name.

"I see you look alright. Now, keep in mind that you can recover quite quickly from any wound, but if I were you I wouldn't trust this too much."

_Is this thing leading anywhere at all?_ Thought Gordon.

"Now, we'll put you through some basic tests to make you feel comfortable with the environment. The computer should be able to handle this, i'll be back in a few minutes."

After the "few basic tests" Gordon was even more convinced than before that was all a travesty. There was no point in having him moving cubes around, and the use of those portals was nothing new from the teleports he had seen in Black Mesa.

Or at least, he though so until he saw the device.

ooOOoo

Magnusson stood up, still uncertain about hod did he get knocked down. The Advisor before him was dead, and this time there was no doubt about it. A stream of yellow blood was pouring out of its body soaking the floor, and it's "head" was smashed.

The former Corporal Shephard lain on the floor, motionless, between the corpses of the Vortigauts.

"It... it was something... incredible! Never experienced before! If we simply consider the implications..." Apparently, Kleiner was had woken up already.

"I must admit it was quite impressive, yes. Almost like a new resonance cascade..."

"Even more so! Didn't you notice? The very fabric of reality could have been stretched!"

"Yes, yes, i'm sure of it. Now let's see in what state the base is after this."

"I... I think that could be a problem."

"A problem? What the hell would that mean?"

"Just look at it yourself... but don't be too surprised."

"Surprised? Why would I.... why... oh God...."

ooOOoo

Gordon had seen it before, sure. She had been carrying it all the time. From the way she handled it, you'd think it was her baby.

But she-WHO? It was a complete blank.

Anyway, that black and white thing shooting portals around surely was familiar.

"That's the Aperture Science Hand-held Portal Device" Mark's voice popped up again in the loudspeakers "And it's the main purpose of this test. Please collect it, and don't worry, it's absolutely safe."

Gordon was skeptic already about the "safety" of the test, twice as much when he got a shock from the device as soon as he touched it.

"That isn't supposed to happen. This environment should be static-free... try touching it again."

Gordon, reluctantly, did so. Another shock.

"Damn! Does anything ever work as it should? Just grab it."

Gordon looked at the camera with a _very _skeptical expression.

"Come on, there's no risk...."  
"He is right, Mister Freeman."

_Not again..._

Time slowed, edges blurred and there was no doubt the second voice in the loudspeakers was _him._

"Just pick up the device, mister Freeman. You have no choice but doing it. Actually, to be precise you have no choice because you have done so already in the past."

The device was still in the center of the room, rotating in slow-motion and shooting portals.

And then Gordon thought it.

What if he crossed them? What if he did so while the Man With The Briefcase was stopping time?

He tried to run, but he was almost crippled. It was close enough. Just one more step....

"Nice try, Mister Freeman. But i-i I won--"

One more step. Just one more...

"STOP IT!"

And he crossed.

Nothing happened.

Or apparently so.

Maybe there was some difference. Apart from being on the opposite side of the portal, that is. The aseptic walls and floor seemed a bit rustier and more ruined.

As if a long time had passed...

_Today isn't my day, definitely. If only I at least knew what day is it..._

The room's entrance opened, followed by the female robotic voice.

ooOOoo

"I am e-experiencing continuous in-instabilities in the Structure."

"_It is so. And you should question whether it is your fault."_

"It isn't. We bo-both know they are unpredictable and..."

"_And it's our duty to prevent them. Do you realize what are you creating?"_

The _entity _seemed upset, for as much as a sentient form of energy could feel anger. The sphere bubbled and rotated, sending small drops of blue around itself.

"We-we are simply experiencing a difficult situation, something we're well-organized for."

"_Or at leas we were, before our main pawn was sacrificed."_

"I wouldn't call that sa-sacrificed. He can still be... retrieved. And besides, that was... inevitable."

"_You are walking a dangerous route. Be careful If I lose, you lose along with me."_

"That will... never happen. As we already know."


End file.
